Samantha Smart grew up in League City, sang in the Clear Creek High School choir and came back to film a movie in her hometown. Now that movie has a Tribeca award, and Smart has an Oscar-nominated short on her résumé.

Smart wrote, produced and starred in Charliebird, a 98-minute feature about a music therapist at a children's hospital in a small Texas town. The film won the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, according to her Talkhouse biography. She also has a featured role in the live-action short Jane Austen's Period Drama, executive produced by Emma Thompson, which earned a Best Live Action Short Film nomination at the 2026 Academy Awards.

The crew shot Charliebird in 14 days in the League City and Houston area. Smart's family got involved. Her mother cooked for cast and crew, her father drove people around, and her niece and nephew made cameos, Smart told Numéro Netherlands in a 2026 interview.

"Setting the story there and physically filming there made the whole thing more personal than I ever could have imagined," she said.

Smart described League City in that interview as "just a few miles south of Houston, just north of Galveston."

Clear Creek ISD spotlighted Smart on Sept. 1 in its "I AM CCISD" alumni series. The district noted what it called a full-circle moment: Smart wove a phrase from her Clear Creek High School choir teacher into the film's script. The line reads, "Our voices, when they sing, they go on to exist forever."

The recognition comes during a strong stretch for music education in the district. The National Association of Music Merchants named Clear Creek ISD one of the nation's Best Communities for Music Education in 2026, an honor the CCISD Board of Trustees acknowledged at its June 22 meeting.

After Clear Creek High School, Smart earned a music scholarship and graduated from Louisiana State University with degrees in classical music and dance. Her TV credits include recurring roles on The CW's Katy Keene and CBS's Bull.

Charliebird, directed by Libby Ewing, picked up top jury honors at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the Coronado Island Film Festival and the Lucca Film Festival in Italy after its Tribeca premiere. Jane Austen's Period Drama, directed by Julia Aks and Steve Pinder, drew a nod from the Austin Film Festival, which highlighted Smart's featured role.

Charliebird has been in theaters since Feb. 27 through Freestyle Releasing. Residents can nominate other alumni for the "I AM CCISD" series at ccisd.net/shareyourstory.